The Evil Pumpkin Youkai
by Bookworm810
Summary: Something strange and evil is happening at the shrine, and Inuyasha thinks that an evil vegtable youkai is responsible. Halloween themed oneshot, orginally written for the 'Eternal Destiny' contest 'Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai'.


**DISCLAIMER: 'Inuyasha' belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and not me. I do not own the characters either. In short, the only thing in this story that is mine is the plot. Do we all understand now? Good, on with the story.**

**Originally posted on 'Eternal Destiny' as part of the site's Halloween themed contest 'Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai'. The rules were that all entries had to be under one thousand, five hundred words and must feature Inuyasha/Kagome as the dominant pairing. Other than that, there were no holds barred. I hope you like it.**

**THE EVIL PUMPKIN YOUKAI**

Inuyasha gripped Tetsusaiga tighter as he rushed around the shrine grounds in close to a panic, desperately trying to find whatever evil had cursed Kagome's home so that he could destroy it and save her and her family from its spell. But with everything so crazy and strange looking how the fuck was he supposed to find the cause of this nightmare? Whatever it was, he needed to find it soon; he couldn't stand to see his beautiful Kagome suffer for much longer under this enchantment that turned her into a monster like himself. He couldn't bear to look at her and see the dark smudges under her eyes, the black lips, the tight black clothes that hugged her like second skin (okay, he admitted he didn't mind _those_ so much, but not under these circumstances. If she wanted to wear them when she wasn't under a spell he was all for it, but he'd think about that later), worst of all were the sharp fangs inside her perfect mouth.

Inuyasha cursed himself over and over in his head for not getting here sooner, for not knowing something was up. He should have known something was wrong. All the signs were there if he had just paid attention and noticed them. But no, he'd been stupid and lax in his duties to protect Kagome, and now look!

The shrine had never looked anything like this before, and it scared Inuyasha. The strange glowing lights, the fragile looking orange and black vines, the human skeletons hanging from the trees. But worst of all were the strange creatures that roamed the shrine without a care in the world, convinced that their hold over the shrine was secure. When he first saw these strange creatures, Inuyasha had thought that they were evil Youkai who had invaded the shrine, and was prepared to fight them off. However, before he could even draw Tetsusaiga he had recognised their scents. He almost wished he hadn't, because as soon as he did the reality of what he was seeing sunk in. These strange creatures were actually humans, obviously under some kind of spell that had transformed them against their will. Some of the scents he even able to recognise as people he knew, and each time he recognised one of Kagome's friends or family within those strange and hideous beasts it brought another pang of fear into his heart. But all of that was nothing when he finally saw his secret love, his beautiful Kagome, transformed like all the rest. The pain and fear he felt at that moment were unlike anything he had ever felt before, even more so than when Kikyo had fired that arrow at him. Even worse was the guilt he felt, this was all his fault, he let this happen with his own carelessness. He let her become this monster, but he swore he would save her and return her to her true form, even if he had to die to do so.

'_Think Inuyasha, think!_' Inuyasha bereted himself, desperately seeking his memory for some clue as how to break this curse. '_When had this all started? What happened?_'

Lets see, several days ago Kagome insisted she needed to return home for a week, because _something_ important was coming up, though he couldn't quite remember what she said was coming. He hadn't paid much attention to anything she'd said after the words 'I need to go home' exited her mouth, a fact that Inuyasha was kicking himself over right now.

The next day Inuyasha had come here, even though he knew Kagome wouldn't agree to come back yet and had spied on her from his hiding place within the branches of the Goshinboku. Kagome and her family had seemed rather busy, Inuyasha remembered and were running all over the shrine and seemed intent on making it extra clean. He also vaguely remembered Mrs Higurashi coming up the stairs at one point, lugging what looked like a large orange vegetable of some kind, while Souta and danced excitedly around her.

A few days after that he had come back, this time daring to enter the house while Kagome was at her 'school'. Mrs Higurashi had welcomed him and made him some ramen, but while he was eating it in the kitchen she'd been moving around the house, moving boxes from various places and searching through them as she babbled on to Inuyasha. Inuyasha hadn't understood much of what she'd been saying, so he'd zoned her out (here he was kicking himself again), but one thing he did remember she'd said was that he just had to come back in two days, which would be tonight. Damn, she must have known this was going to happen and was trying to get him to help, but why didn't she just come out and say it? Was the curse already taking effect, and stopping her from saying so? Damn it, what else could he remember? He vaguely remembered seeing black and orange _somethings_ in the boxes, and that damn vegetable was sitting on the kitchen bench.

Earlier today he'd come to drag Kagome back, boy had that been a diasters. Kagome had locked him out of her room, screaming at him to go away and come back after dark. While Kagome was carrying on, Souta had clung to his waist and begged him - full on begged him - to come back later. Damn it, the whole family was begging for his help and he'd just turned and walked away. He could remember the boxes from the other day sitting by the front door, and the vegetable sitting half carved up on the kitchen table.

'_Wait, what's that?_' Inuyasha wondered as something caught his eye and he turned to see that bloody vegetable sitting on a table in the middle of the shrine, clearly on display. Only now it was obvious that it wasn't just a vegetable, as it smirked evilly at the world around with eyes that seemed to burn from within. Of course, the vegetable, everything had started after it arrived didn't it? It must be an evil Youkai vegetable, and that meant he had to destroy it. Happy now that he had a target it mind, he rushed at it and with one swipe of his claws took it out, spattering orange goo all over the nearby creatures. Inuyasha held his breath as said creatures cried out in surprise, did it work?

"Inuyasha!" A familiar voice yelled, as his beloved Kagome walked out of the crowd towards him, whipping the orange goo of her face as she did so. Inuyasha's heart soared when the dark marks on her face her also whipped away, and she spat fangs out of her mouth. The curse was lifted! His Kagome was turning back! But, why did she look so angry?

"Inuyasha, why the hell did you destroy the jack-o-lantern?"

**AUTHOR'S END NOTE:**

Just in case anyone's still confused, let me clear some things up. It's Halloween at the shrine, Kagome's family is throwing a costume party, and Kagome's a sexy vampire.


End file.
